Potential MN Nurses Strike?

doesntlookgood · Jun 25, 2010

'Zero progress' in nurse contract talks; another strike looms | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

To the previous poster...I am a medically-retired ALPA member,

To all you Nurses, do everything in your power to avoid crossing a picket line.

If you compromise yourselves now, you will NEVER regain what you lost.

To the strikers...

Stand strong.

Stand tall.

Put your big-girl panties on (most of your are Female).

If you give up now, you WILL regret it forever.

"Those things that cause pain, instruct."

Leyla~ · Jun 25, 2010

So much for negotiations. MNA is filing a 10 day strike notice this morning.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jun 25, 2010

Negotiations require a good faith effort by both sides to achieve a contract.

OC_An Khe · Jun 25, 2010

True negotiations don't really start until the 10 day notice is filed. Then parties become serious as the actual cost of an actual strike become apparent. This applies to both sides and pressure builds to make compromises. Unless of course the employers are trying to break the unions solidarity and long term viability.

Chico David, BSN, RN · Jun 26, 2010

So much for negotiations. MNA is filing a 10 day strike notice this morning.

Filing a strike notice, while certainly real, is one more negotiating tool. The most intense negotiations usually happen after the filing of such a notice. Helps to concentrate the mind wonderfully, as the saying goes.

Bella RN, BSN, MSN · Jun 26, 2010

I read that the strike is indefinite and is effective July 6. I read where one of the nurses who crossed the picket lines expressed what a mess the nurse employees of the hospital left the patients in advertantly knowing the scabs were coming in on the last strike. She said they were hiding IV pumps and syringe containers and of course were not cordial to the oncoming scab nurses.

What are the nurse patient ratios at the 14 facilities were the nurses will be striking?? I can't find concrete numbers.

From what I have read I am not sure why they are striking. According to a source they make an average of $79,000/yr that is without overtime and with full time benefits and they receive full pensions and several of the facilities are magnet status. So if they are magnet status you MUST be in compliance with safe patient ratios. That is part of being Magnet.

84% of the nurses voted for this strike. The hospital administration is going to decrease the amount of what is contributed to their pensions and that is one of the things that caused the uproar. I am not positive but I am wondering if the hospital didn't decrease the pension contributions would that mean some employees would be laid off?

Down in South Fla all "public servants" including nursing where mandated to take a 5% pay cut due to the hospital being in the red. It was either that or nurses would be unemployed and the hospital would close. One hospital in Dade county has already been closed. But none of the nurses striked for that.....I wonder why the mentality up there is different than down in Fla.And in Fla you have ICUs where nurses are tripled with pts intubated and all maybe on drips....very dangerous. Charge nurses tripled in the the ICU's. You have Med surg units that are 8:1,even the doctors don't like sending there patients there. PCUs 5:1 sometimes 6:1. Its CRAZY and scary!!!!! Nurses complain at those facilities but nothing is done.

I know someone who is being affected by that 5% loss in her pay in Fla, but she is still working at that facility.

I don't see how the strike will make a difference,please enlighten me if you can answer that question. And please let me know what the ratios are at these facilities that will be striked.

elkpark · Jun 26, 2010

I read that the strike is indefinite and is effective July 6. I read where one of the nurses who crossed the picket lines expressed what a mess the nurse employees of the hospital left the patients in advertantly knowing the scabs were coming in on the last strike. She said they were hiding IV pumps and syringe containers and of course were not cordial to the oncoming scab nurses.
What are the nurse patient ratios at the 14 facilities were the nurses will be striking?? I can't find concrete numbers.
From what I have read I am not sure why they are striking. According to a source they make an average of $79,000/yr that is without overtime and with full time benefits and they receive full pensions and several of the facilities are magnet status. So if they are magnet status you MUST be in compliance with safe patient ratios. That is part of being Magnet.
84% of the nurses voted for this strike. The hospital administration is going to decrease the amount of what is contributed to their pensions and that is one of the things that caused the uproar. I am not positive but I am wondering if the hospital didn't decrease the pension contributions would that mean some employees would be laid off?
Down in South Fla all "public servants" including nursing where mandated to take a 5% pay cut due to the hospital being in the red. It was either that or nurses would be unemployed and the hospital would close. One hospital in Dade county has already been closed. But none of the nurses striked for that.....I wonder why the mentality up there is different than down in Fla.And in Fla you have ICUs where nurses are tripled with pts intubated and all maybe on drips....very dangerous. Charge nurses tripled in the the ICU's. You have Med surg units that are 8:1,even the doctors don't like sending there patients there. PCUs 5:1 sometimes 6:1. Its CRAZY and scary!!!!! Nurses complain at those facilities but nothing is done.
I know someone who is being affected by that 5% loss in her pay in Fla, but she is still working at that facility.
I don't see how the strike will make a difference,please enlighten me if you can answer that question. And please let me know what the ratios are at these facilities that will be striked.

I would turn your question around -- are you suggesting that, because conditions are horrible in FL and people are willing to put up with it, no one else should try to improve conditions in their areas?? I wouldn't hold up working conditions in FL as a positive example of anything ...

Bella RN, BSN, MSN · Jun 26, 2010

I would turn your question around -- are you suggesting that, because conditions are horrible in FL and people are willing to put up with it, no one else should try to improve conditions in their areas?? I wouldn't hold up working conditions in FL as a positive example of anything ...

The questions were very open ended question and weren't meant to be turned around or any underlying suggestions and connatations within the examples given...they were asked just to be simply answered and pondered upon. Very simple. As you stated I agree with you about not holding working conditions in Fla as being positive, very much agreed upon, these were primary examples of what working conditions are like down here just to give someone a general idea of what it is like if they were not aware. :nurse:

Bella RN, BSN, MSN · Jun 26, 2010

I just went on the MNA's website and watched the youtube video of the MNA spokesperson and the hospital spokesperson. A nurse called in from a psych unit and stated she has had I believe she said up to 18 pts and didn't have adequate staffing if a pt detoriates rapidly at night which happens commonly, and the hospital spokesperson stated;oh you get more patients at night because all the pts do is sleep and you don't have scheduled MRI's or CT scans or procedures to do at night! :eek: The MNA shout back appropriately and said to her you aren't even a nurse and don't know what it is like to work as a nurse or a night shift.

I think what is going on up there besides the blatant disrespect of the profession based upon what the hospital rep said on that video; even though I don't have concrete numbers yet, still searching....But I think that what is taking place is they are loading the nurses with high acuity pts and less staff but more patients. Very similar to what we have in Fla, and the hospital maybe saying to themselves, oh in other parts of the U.S. that ideology is working, but in actuality it is not if that is how they perceive it.

And the MN nurses see where this trend is going and probably feel that if they don't take a stand they will be treated like how some nurses are down south are treated. I truly hope and pray that MN can find an answer to resolve this and be a positive example and be the catalyst to proper change in our profession.

Even though down here we are truly inadequately staffed and Definitely not compensated well, it isn't right and isn't safe. I hope the nurses up there receive some reprive on this and not allow things to turn into how things in Florida are. I am still searching for those concrete numbers though.... :nurse:

Concerned813 · Jun 26, 2010

"Scabs don't deserve respect IMO. If you cross a picket line as an individual than you need to be willing to take the heat."

I have a question for you then. If you are so concerned about patient safety, and you go on strike for a week let's say (sounds like it will be much longer), what is going to happen to the patients currently in ICU/ER/NICU/PICU/CICU if NO ONE crosses the line to take care of them? What about the 25 week preemie on a vent who needs to be fed and meds every hour?? What then?? Do you just let them die? Do you understand at all that those patients need some type of care? If in fact the hospital has to pay out an extremely high compensation to have those patients taken care of, it will hurt them in their pocket, right? Exactly where they do not want to be hurt. So, why take it out on someone who has no interest in the outcome but wants to ensure the safety of "your" patients until a deal can be worked out? IMO, "THEY" are the ones who care for their patients well being!

A nurses strike is MUCH different than any other type of strike. If airline pilots strike, what happens?? They don't fly!! If a car plant goes on strike, what happens?? They don't make cars!! If a shoe manufacturing company goes on strike, what happens?? They don't make shoes!! The real "scabs" here are the executives you are fighting so hard against, take out your frustration on them. Not the ones who care enough to keep your patients alive! We all share in your frustration of, and even agree with everything you are fighting for, but anyone who cares for your patients during this strike is not the enemy!

I'm just saying....

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Jun 27, 2010

First, I am not a fan of unions. I do not like working in unionized facilities for various reasons that are not in discussion.

To address the above poster, The PTB in the hospitals in question have had more than enough time to plan coverage for the striking nurses. This is an action that has been discussed for quite literally monthes in advance. And many of the PTB are nurse managers/management that have nursing LICENSES. There has been more than adequate time to transfer/reposition pts in the hospital system, so that they can be cared for adequately. And many of those PTB and nonunion nurses cshould be able to care for tthose that ould not shifted.

Virtually ALL good hospitals are supposed to have contingency plans for emergencies, including staffing shortages, with little notice. And the facilities in question have had MORE than a little notice to plan for this.

Notably most facilities are loath to institute this, by declining elective surguries or rerouting patients/transferring patients even when the situation is dire....because it makes them look bad, hurts them in the eyes of their MDs/pts/surgeons, and hits the MDs and the facility in the pocketbook, HARD. Even if by doing so, the facility endangers the pts.....think Katrina and the large number of pts and staff that were deliberately left directly in harm's way and many died.

Virtually all of the facilities had plenty of notice to transfer out pts, and for those sudden emergencies/hard cases, insure that they had adequate licensed nonunion personnel. That DON/nurse manager in his/her pumps and pearls, can shed them and get her tail out on the floor. This was not a Katrina, where there was very little time.

Lastly, in virtually every case that this nonunion supporter has seen of nurses actually striking, the facilities had done some serious things to "earn" that strike. As a former traveler, I never crossed a picket line, even though I could have made a lot of money by doing so.

kitty29 · Jun 27, 2010

I am aware that the MN Nurses will be striking a second time...and although I do support some of they are asking for...I Do NOT support a nurse or any medical professional striking. I see no good to come from this only hurt and anger...and in the end it's the patients who suffer and their families.

I work in the NICU and I did cross the picket line...I am sure I will be flamed here for say this. It's ok...those babys need a nurse...those families did not ask to have this situation happen to them (the early birth I mean). I was paid well. In saying this I feel my being there for the babys and families did support the striking nurses. I know they do not agree. BUT...the hospital paid dearly for my nursing skills. This will encourage a settlement. This allowed the Nurses to make their statement too. The press is out there.

The problem is...the press is turning against you guys now. I hear all over from regular people why are they striking they make twice or four times what I do...and they have a pension. Some of your nurses did not even know why you did strike - they told this to someone I know personally. Staffing, money, safety...I'm not saying you shouldn't stick up for these things...you should! But you need to not have tantrums...you need to sit down and settle! Both sides need to sit down and settle!!!!

I see nothing good coming from this second strike. Nothing. Flame away...I'm not going to care. It's how I feel. I work in an area where the patient comes first. Sit down and settle - work something out both sides. You know deep down I'm right.